1. A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality.
2. Something, such as a film or story, that is clearly imitative of or based on something else.
3. A theft.
4. An act of exploitation.

For WarCraft to be a rip-off of Warhammer with this definition, it would need to steal the identity of Warhammer in a way that you can barely tell them apart from each other. Meaning, being nearly identical to the original product.

Though, since WarCraft did not exploit Warhammer's reputation as a board game by being a video game, as well as having created one of the most iconic gaming franchises to date without confusing the consumer about the differences between Warhammer and WarCraft, Blizzard have not really ripped-off Games Workshop.

However, they did get heavily influenced by Warhammer, which is beyond a doubt correct.

There are plenty of parallels, especially in early Warcraft stuff, but I think it's progressed to the point that they are distinctly separate properties with independent development of their respective universes.

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Originally Posted by Frozen Death Knight

A rip-off is defined as this on the free dictionary website:

1. A product or service that is overpriced or of poor quality.
2. Something, such as a film or story, that is clearly imitative of or based on something else.
3. A theft.
4. An act of exploitation.

For WarCraft to be a rip-off of Warhammer with this definition, it would need to steal the identity of Warhammer in a way that you can barely tell them apart from each other. Meaning, being nearly identical to the original product.

Though, since WarCraft did not exploit Warhammer's reputation as a board game by being a video game, as well as having created one of the most iconic gaming franchises to date without confusing the consumer about the differences between Warhammer and WarCraft, Blizzard have not really ripped-off Games Workshop.

However, they did get heavily influenced by Warhammer, which is beyond a doubt correct.

Well said, I love both and it is clear that Warcraft copied as much as the legally could get away with, but because the Guys at blizzard rock hard they were able to make it their own at the same time.

To the WOW fanboys don't feel that it's a threat to WOW that they copied, think of it as Warcraft is distilled from the best parts of the best Fantasy sources.

I don't really think that "ripoff" is the right word, at least not now, nearly two decades later. The Warcraft setting has developed into something completely different from the Warhammer setting. Blizzard really made it their own with Warcraft III, and by now you can barely see the connections to Warhammer beyond art style and a couple of the core concepts behind its races.

Besides, is it really fair to call it a ripoff if it was originally intended to be a licensed Warhammer game?

Blizzard were hired to make a Warhammer real time strategy game. After they started the owners of Warhammer said they cancel the project and Blizzard finished the game creating their own franchize.

Short answer: Yes, Blizzard ripped it off.

Ripping-off Warhammer would mean that they would steal the identity of the board game, which they did not. So no, Blizzard did not rip-off Games Workshop, especially since Blizzard created a video game and not a board game.

It would be easier to argue that WarCraft ripped-off earlier RTS games, but that is not really true, either, since it differentiated itself enough not to be defined as such.

The only productive thing to state about the relation between Warhammer and WarCraft is that the latter got heavily influenced by the former. Though, that does not really define it as a rip-off.

Since it was originally designed with hopes to be an official Warhammer product, no - it was not "ripped-off". It was Games Workshop who didn't have enough of an imagination to accept their bid - a decision I'm sure they're kicking themselves over to this day. :P

You can only call it a "ripoff" if the intent was there to just carbon-copy the game without permission. Their original intent wasn't to "rip off" the game... their intent was to MAKE a Warhammer game.

They only went forward with it as a separate product because they believed in what they created and didn't want to waste all that work, and rightfully so! :P

---------- Post added 2013-01-07 at 05:11 PM ----------

Calling Warcraft a ripoff of Warhammer is the same as calling the Original Playstation a ripoff of a Super Nintendo product. Sony originally developed the PS1 as the Super Nintendo CD-ROM, but Nintendo pulled the plug on them after years of development and tons of money they ponied up.

Sony basically responded: "Hey! Why did you do that Nintendo? We had a unique kick-ass system we dumped a lot of money into, with TONS of disc-memory, new 3D dynamics, easy and cheap to program for! How are we to recover our..." /scratches chin thoughtfully "...costs...Hrmmmmm...."

Isn't it immature that you call him Donald "Dump"?
I agree, it's childish and stupid - and that's my point. it's meant as a deliberate mockery of his blatant disrespect via using "Crooked Hillary", and thus I can call him "Dump" since he dumps his campaign promises, dumps campaign managers, dumps his wives, wants to dump the first amendment, dumps common-sense war ethics and dumps the use of proper English in favor of a mongrel white-trash dialect.

Waste of time to have a poll like this on a site that will be obviously biased. Users here will just pick NO without knowing anything about what they're voting for. If you want a real opinion, you have to ask this question somewhere where it will be answered without bias towards warhammer or warcraft.

Calling Warcraft a ripoff of Warhammer is the same as calling the Original Playstation a ripoff of a Super Nintendo product. Sony originally developed the PS1 as the Super Nintendo CD-ROM, but Nintendo pulled the plug on them after years of development and tons of money they ponied up.

Sony basically responded: "Hey! Why did you do that Nintendo? We had a unique kick-ass system we dumped a lot of money into, with TONS of disc-memory, new 3D dynamics, easy and cheap to program for! How are we to recover our..." /scratches chin thoughtfully "...costs...Hrmmmmm...."

What a boring gaming world we would have if ideas got killed off simply because it would be deemed as a "rip-off". Good games are built upon the shoulders of other good games, like anything else outside of gaming. It is just counter-productive to define something a rip-off unless it is a really obvious attempt to steal another franchise's identity, which is a way to protect the original creator's work. Outside of that, it is just plain redundant and at times used as an attempt to discredit good work (like in this case).

Ripping-off Warhammer would mean that they would steal the identity of the board game, which they did not. So no, Blizzard did not rip-off Games Workshop, especially since Blizzard created a video game and not a board game.

Warhammer

Warcraft

It was based on the Warhammer univese to leech off fame from the original glory. When they were not allowed to use the original lore they conterfitted it.

Except that no one confuses any WarCraft game with the Warhammer board game franchise. If WarCraft was such an obvious rip-off as you say, Games Workshop would have been able to sue Blizzard for that. Considering the current circumstances and that WarCraft as well as Warhammer are going strong to this very day without being considered two big rival competitors, I do not see how anything you just said make any sense, at all.

It took a lot of inspiration from warhammer but i wouldnt call it a ripoff. As someone who knows a lot about both warcraft and warhammer i would say there are a lot of similarities but there are also a lot of differences.

For example the warhammer world is much much darker then warcraft. In warcraft human kingdoms are kind of fairy tale like with virtuous paladins and brave knights while in warhammer the human empire is a medieval slum filled with crazy religious fanatics, mad wizards and inquisitors. On the other hand Burning Legion in warcraft is evil and all but really doesent seem that bad compared to the demons and warriors of Chaos from warhammer who are completely deranged mutants and adorn themselves with mutilated body part as trophies.

While warcraft and warhammer orcs are both green they are really nothing alike, in warcraft orcs are honorable, sometimes berserking barbarians while in warhammer they are more like a massive doped up streeet gang.

Besides all this Warhammer itself borrowed a lot from various Dungeons and dragons settings which were inspired by fantasy novels of which the greates are Tolkiens works who was himself inspired and borrowed a lot from germanic mythology so basically everything has its roots somewhere else its like a massive tree of life when you think about it

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Originally Posted by Frozen Death Knight

Ripping-off Warhammer would mean that they would steal the identity of the board game, which they did not. So no, Blizzard did not rip-off Games Workshop, especially since Blizzard created a video game and not a board game.

It would be easier to argue that WarCraft ripped-off earlier RTS games, but that is not really true, either, since it differentiated itself enough not to be defined as such.

The only productive thing to state about the relation between Warhammer and WarCraft is that the latter got heavily influenced by the former. Though, that does not really define it as a rip-off.

Couple of things, Warhammer is not a 'Board Game' in is a Turn based Table top Strategy Miniature game.

By rip off the term also refers to the common practice of copying an idea.